Tehran: Irans Air Force has been ordered to shoot down any unknown or suspicious flying objects in Irans airspace, an Air Force spokesman said on Saturday amid state-media reports of sightings of flying objects near Irans nuclear installations.

"All anti-aircraft units and jet fighters have been ordered to shoot down the flying objects in Irans airspace," spokesman of the regular Army, Air Force Colonel Salman Mahini, said.

Flying object fever has gripped Iran after dozens of reported sightings in the summer and in recent weeks. State-run media has reported sightings of unknown objects flying over parts of Iran where nuclear facilities are located.

"Flights of unknown objects in the countrys airspace have increased in recent weeks ... (they) have been seen over Bushehr and Isfahan provinces," the daily Resalat reported on Saturday. There are nuclear facilities in both provinces. The timing of the reported increase in sightings, which comes as the United States is urging allies to confront Iran over its nuclear programme, has strengthened Iranian public perception that the objects are surveillance or hostile aircraft monitoring Iran.

Irans Air Force Chief, Gen. Karim Ghavami, was quoted in Iranian newspapers on Saturday as saying that Iran was fully prepared to defend any threat to its nuclear installations. "We have arranged plans to defend nuclear facilities from any threat. Irans Air Force is watchful and prepared to carry out its responsibilities," Gen. Ghavami was quoted as saying.

The Resalat had reported that "shining objects" in the sky were seen near Natanz  where Irans uranium enrichment plant is located  and one had exploded, causing "concern and panic in the region".

According to Col. Mahini, Irans pilot training centre in Tehran will organise a two-day scientific conference in March to shed more light on the flying objects. The conference is scheduled for March 8-9. (AP)

TEHRAN, Dec. 25 - As repression of political protesters increases in Iran and disenchantment with the change-oriented president, Mohammad Khatami, grows, many of the young foot soldiers in the protest movement have been retreating from politics.

Their frustration took full expression this month when Mr. Khatami visited Tehran University. More than 1,000 students showed up, boisterously expressing their disappointment with Mr. Khatami, whom they elected overwhelmingly in 1997.

"Enough lies," shouted angry students, as many turned their backs to the president.

"The students had no idea that they would face a defeated head of government after seven years," said a statement issued by the leading student movement, the Office for Consolidation of Unity, expressing concern that Mr. Khatami had not made more progress on change.

Mr. Khatami has been widely criticized for his failure to curtail repression against journalists and protesters during his tenure. Close to 100 pro-change newspapers and journals have been shut down and scores of advocates of change have been jailed and intimidated by the hard-line elements in the government.

Some politically active young people have said they are quitting politics and giving up hope for improvement in the current system.

In the latest wave of repression, more than 20 journalists and Internet technicians, most of them young and two of them women, were arrested in late summer and released only this month.

One by one, most of them appeared in front of the state-run television confessing to a series of crimes. After their release they said they had spent three months in solitary confinement and had been tortured. One woman, Fereshteh Ghazi, who had not confessed, ended up hospitalized.

A statement from the European Union in late November to protest the arrests helped to win their release, some of those released said.

Arash Naderpoor, one of the detainees, had an Internet company and gave a domain to one of the sites advocating change two years ago. He spent 97 days in solitary confinement.

"I am quitting political work for good in Iran," said Hanif Mazroui, the son of a change-oriented politician, Rajabali Mazroui, who did technical work for one of the Web sites and was arrested. "Politics is not like the game of chess here and the other side does not abide by the rules."

Another who was arrested, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he and a few others would join a handful of journalists who left the country after their release. "It was the prison first and now the interrogations that has made life a living hell for us," he said.

The collision between change-oriented politicians close to President Khatami and younger advocates became apparent this month. Eight advocates called for a referendum on political change under the supervision of the United Nations, posting a petition on a Web site, www.60000000.com. But the politicians close to the president rejected the call, even though they had campaigned around holding a referendum in the parliamentary election of 2000, which led to their victory.

Despite the differences between the older change-oriented politicians and the younger advocates of change, Ahmad Zeidabadi, a journalist and university professor, said he did not think young people were pulling out of the movement for good. "Young people are disappointed but they have not given up their opposition," he said.

Iran Focus Tehran, Dec. 25  The acting director-general of the workers union of the city of Shahre-Rey (southwest of Tehran) yesterday said that workers were currently living below the poverty line.

Ali Tarkashvand said that workers desire to work with dignity with the hope of earning salaries to be able to have a reasonable lifestyle. Currently the only thing the workers have is their dignity and nothing else, he added, referring to the fact that, workers present salaries is nowhere near enough to cover their daily expenses.

The union chief went on to say that currently there is talk of a ten percent inflation which would affect the already-soaring price of basic household products. Tarkashvand said that over the past year the price of many products had increased at an overwhelming speed, in some cases increasing by over 50 percent. 

Inflation is caused by those who dont have to worry about the price of bread; with massive personal wealth and salaries of millioners who dont have to worry about the price increases. However workers earning just 106,000 Toumans ($120), suffer extreme difficulties from even the smallest inflation increases, he said. He called for an end to government corruption, which is widely suspected to be a fundamental cause of Irans economic setback.

Tehran, Dec 24, IRNA -- Chairman of the Expediency Council (EC) Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Friday strongly rejected charges that Iran is meddling in Iraq's internal affairs, and termed remarks to that effect as "the most absurd". Rafsanjani, in a sermon at Tehran Friday prayers, said the remarks that Iran is seeking intervention in Iraq are propagated by the "mercenaries and affiliates" of the US, adding that this is a "historic atrocity" against Iran.

He said those who raise such comments are themselves 'US appointees,' but accuse Iranian pilgrims who have risked their life to visit Iraq's holy sites of false charges.

Rafsanjani recalled the issue of elections in Iraq and the occupied territories of Palestine, and regretted that there are evil elements that are trying to prevent people in those countries achieve their rights.

"Secret hands are trying to stop Iraqi elections. And because they know holding elections is the demand of the people, particularly the Shiites, they do evil things in Karbala and Najaf; the things that saddens every oppressed," he told worshipers at Tehran University campus.

"Of course, doing these evil things shows that they have been disappointed."

Rafsanjani said nobody inside Iran tells the Iraqi people to vote for any specific group, stressing that Iran always advises all nations to participate in the elections to promote their self-determination.

"That they accuse Iran of interfering in Iraq for this encouragement is merely the propaganda of the US," he said.

Rafsanjani's remarks that Iran is not interfering in Iraq's internal affairs closely follow those by Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi that such charges suit the US that has invaded the country.

Kharrazi told reporters upon arrival in Beirut airport that there is a certain level of affinity between the Iranian and the Iraqi people which stems in their mutual bonds.

However, he stressed, this should never be translated as Iran's interference in Iraq.

Kharrazi reiterated Iran's urge on all ethnic groups and religions to strongly participate in the next month elections in Iraq, stressing that the Iraqis should indicate that they are a strong and mature nation and can control the affairs of their country.

Kharrazi says Iran not interfering in Iraq's internal affairs

Beirut, Dec 24, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here on Thursday rejected that Iran is seeking interference in Iraq's internal affairs, stressing that such charges suit the US which has invaded the country.

Kharrazi told reporters upon arrival in Beirut airport that there is a certain level of affinity between the Iranian and the Iraqi people which stems in their mutual bonds. However, he stressed, this should never be translated as Iran's interference in Iraq.

Kharrazi expressed hope that people from all ethnicities and religions strongly participate in the next month elections in Iraq.

He added that the Iraqis should indicate that they are a strong and mature nation and can control the affairs of their country.

On the reason of his visit to Damascus and Beirut, Kharrazi said that foreign ministers should always be prepared to consult with each other, adding that he was visiting Syria and Lebanon to consult with the officials of those countries.

"Regional developments are so much and happen so fast that we will have to get into regular contacts with each other," he said adding that all countries should consult with each other for discussing the issues of the Middle East and Iraq.

In a response to a question about US threats against Iran, Kharrazi said such threats are nothing new adding that nobody will take these threats seriously.

The Iranian foreign minister, heading a delegation, arrived in Beirut on Thursday night.

I picked up the telephone to talk to a friend right after a French television station aired an hour-long programme about the Shah*. I asked her how she liked the programme and she broke down crying and could not stop to say anything. Watching the programme was not easy for me either. I sat on the edge of the sofa glued to the television swallowing my tears and watching a chronological account of the beginning and end of a man who was the king of my country for thirty-eight years.

Why me, my friend and many other Iranians feel so passionately about the Shah? We were not part of his so-called inner circle to be missing the royal glamour we were once surrounded with. Speaking for myself, I do not give two hoots for royal glamour or any other forms thereof. Neither are we pining for the cushy jobs, we had while the Shah was in power and mourning our deprivation of those positions now that he has gone. I and many of my peers were high school students when the Shah left the country and were not yet of an age for employment. Our parents also had to work hard to make ends meet. No, the affection we have for the Shah has nothing to do with material considerations. It has everything to do with the love we have for our homeland.

The Shah was not a president, a mere ruler or head of state. He was a living manifestation of the continuity of our civilization. And what is that supposed to mean you might say? And you will be right in your skepticism. One hears a great deal of cant rattled off about our "ancient Iranian civilization" stretching from Greece and Egypt across Central Asia to India and so forth. This kind of talk is only tiresome claptrap. A great deal of it is highfaluting self-aggrandizement of people who hide behind the laurels of their forefathers. It can be meaningful only if the present achievements succeed in making a logical connection to the traditions and cultural heritage of the past. And a glance at the current state of affairs in our country obviously shows that this connection is non-existent. Ergo our cheque from the bank of ancient glories would bounce miserably.

So what after all do I mean when I say that the Shah was the manifestation of the continuity of our civilization? I mean he was the living representation and the custodian of an identity that was balanced on the three pillars of religious faith, national heritage and political tradition. He was the personification and upholder of that trinity that provided Iranians with their unique sense of selfhood setting them apart from other cultures and civilizations. The Shah was absolutely right when in a 1979 discussion with Sir David Frost, in answer to the celebrated interviewer's question about what in his opinion was the common bond uniting the Iranian people, he answered 'The crown, the king'.

For the past quarter of a century deprived of its Shah, that keystone of its national trinity, Iran has been writhing in the throes of degeneration and backwardness. It has by no means lived up to its creative potential and true national aspirations. A look at the low morale of the dispirited Iranians living in their homeland or abroad shows the extent of this decay. The ever climbing rate of suicide, drug addiction, prostitution and family violence demonstrates how the moral foundation of our country has been disturbed and its central assumptions been thrown out of whack. If watching old movies of the Shah makes Iranians break down in tears, it is because of a huge emptiness in their national soul that yearns for fulfillment and repair. For the same reason Reza Pahlavi's website is visited by thousands of Iranians everyday and Shahbanou is greeted by throngs of her compatriots wherever she goes.

The people of a nation can go from day to day, double and triple the size of their population, even materially prosper and nevertheless remain dispossessed of something essential in their collective soul. To continue as a living civilization however requires something quite different. The Shah was a symbol and a proof of that stubborn Iranian spirit that had stood up to all foreign invasions and resisted all the trespass to its cultural integrity. It had survived the Greeks, Mongols, Arabs, Turks and the Communists because it held on to a spiritual core of national values which was more powerful than any of those formidable foes.

What the mullahs represented was also an important part of this core. Shia Islam at its best like its Zoroastrian predecessor was a strong pillar that held up our national identity and provided us with a unique set of spiritual, moral and mythological values. These values like the monarchy itself are not measurable in utilitarian terms or by mathematical charts. Nevertheless their worth to the well-being of our culture has been inestimable. Anyone who denies this is either intellectually or emotionally out of tune with the Iranian situation.

The Shah himself was aware of that delicate structure that rested on religious faith, national heritage and a political tradition. Although he was following a secular programme for modernization and development of the country, not only had he nothing against the thoughtful branch of the Shia Islam, he did his best to support and promote it. Thanks to the Shah's special attention the city of Mashhad, the burial site of the 9th century Shia saint Imam Reza gained high prominence as a magnificent pilgrim city and a reputable center of religious learning. The peaceful spiritual leaders in Qom were far freer in the time of the Shah than during the dictatorship of Ruhollah Khomeini who started the repressive custom of keeping his fellow ayatollahs under house arrest. Even Khomeini himself as the leading exponent of the most backward fanatical branch of violent shiaism had nothing worse to fear from the Shah than an exile into a holy city in the country's neighborhood.

One should never make the mistake of thinking that the eventual downfall of the Shah proves that he was wrong in allowing so much power and resources to the country's major religious faith. Apart from being a sincere believer himself, his astute mind provided him with a long- term vision and a far reaching insight into the delicately forged balance that kept the country together, territorially, emotionally and spiritually.

Contrastingly, the mullahs who opposed him could not see further than the tip of their noses. They could only think of short term gain, seizing the reigns of power and holding on to it as long as they could manage it. They failed to see, or could not care less about the long term interests of the religious faith they claimed they were trying to safeguard. They could not see that the heartlessness and emotional sterilization they were instigating against the Shah could eventually pave the way for their own departure. If a nation with 2,500 years of monarchy could bring itself to get rid of such a highly significant national symbol as the Shah, it could also manage to jettison a foreign religion with much less seniority. A parent who mistreats his spouse in front of the children could not expect to gain their love but should understand that he is eroding the sense of respect, family honor and fidelity that will one day come to haunt him. As the saying goes 'what goes around comes around'. And the time for the end of Islamic faith at least in its present form has come around in Iran for quite some time. It is not a secret to anyone that the mullahs are derided and despised by the majority of Iranians. They hold political power by intimidation and repression and not because they are entrusted to do so by the free will of the population.

What kind of Shia Islam can be expected to emerge after the dust of the present dictatorship has settled in Iran is not an easy question to answer. Whether the religion of the majority of Iranians will be able to recreate itself and be born anew sometime in the future depends on many different factors. In its intelligent progressive form it will have a better chance of survival through the restoration of that political system which itself draws its strength from traditional values i.e. the constitutional monarchy. What is certain is that after their inevitable liberation from the present dictatorship, Iranians will never accept to give religion the overwhelming sway it once exercised in their political life. The concept of Shia Islam as the official religion of the country is finished. For that matter, the Iranian monarchy also in its old overarching form has for ever come to an end.

Today we Iranians are sitting amongst the ruins of twenty-five years of national turmoil. To prevail as a civilization we have to pick up the pieces and recreate our national trinity of God, the Shah and country for the democratic age of the twenty-first century. To think however that we can dissolve this trinity, reduce its number or concoct something else altogether instead is to repeat the folly of the Islamic revolutionaries.

A secular republic with no imaginative roots in our national consciousness for Iranians will be like a loveless marital contract full of clauses and sub-clauses but ultimately bereft of any binding emotional attachment or heartfelt yearning. We cannot build the future of our nation in a spiritual vacuum, forgoing its true sources of cultural inspiration and vitality.

What is certain is that multi billion dollar investments are not the only thing we require for rebuilding our country. We need to make an attempt to identify and heal our festering emotional wounds. We need to scrutinize the truth beyond the clouds of falsehood propagated in the past twenty-five years by political opportunists and religious terrorists.

A good place to start is to consider clearly and free of fanaticism the place of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the history of our modern civilization. Such an understanding is essential for our moral recovery. It will enable us to come to terms with our past and proceed in the direction of creating a just, fair and humane society.

The Shah stood at the political helm of our country for nearly four decades, giving us his youth and old age. He bestowed on us all the intellectual and emotional energy his life could muster. The least we can do for him is to give him the recognition he deserves.

Baghdad -- The Iraqi Defence Minister stated that Iraq would soon display footage of Iranian meddling throughout the country. Hazem Shaalan said that Iraqi security forces were able to obtain foreign satellite footage of 50 suicide vehicles entering the country from Iran.

In an interview with the Saudi daily, al-Watan, Shaalan also added that 14 of the 50 vehicles had explosives installed and were ready for suicide missions while the remainder were caught whilst they were being fitted with the explosives.

The defence chief said that the footage along with other documents and evidence of Iranian meddling would be aired on Iraqi TV stations, before Iraq's upcoming elections, as soon as Iraqs interim-Prime Minster, Ayad Allawi, gave the final approval.

The minister apparently made the remarks in reply to recent Iranian officials demands for further proof of their alleged meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Diplomatic negotiations with Iran serves no purpose, he said, adding that he believed that all diplomatic channels with Iran had been exhausted with no concrete results.

Iraqi interim-government officials have arrested a large number of Iranian agents who had been rounded up in Iraqi cities whilst planning or attempting to carry out terrorist operations. Irans Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hamid-Reza Asefi, recently announced that some 1,500 Iranians were currently in Iraqi prisons, accused of being terrorists.

Asked about his recent comments on Iran, Shaalan said that he stood by what he said and would not retract his comments until Iran fundamentally changed its behaviour. Last week Shaalan said: We discovered that the key to terrorism is in Iran, which is the number one enemy for Iraq.

ARREST OF AMERICAN AND ISRAELI SPIES NOT SERIOUS: EXPERTS By Safa Haeri Posted Thursday, December 23, 2004

PARIS, 23 Dec. (IPS) Experts and intelligence community did not take seriously the so-called revelations made on Wednesday 22 December by the Iranian Information (Intelligence) Minister concerning the arrest of 10 spies on charges passing nuclear information to American and Israelis.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Younesi, a junior cleric, said the culprits had been detained during the present Iranian year of 1383 that ends on 21 March 2005, adding that three of the suspects were staff of Irans Atomic Energy Organization.

The spies, believed to be agents of Mossad and CIA, were arrested in Tehran and the southern province of Hormozgan, he said, adding that the detainees were handed over to the Islamic Revolution Court", one that deals mostly with the regimes security, espionage and counter-espionage matters, according to the official news agency IRNA.

They behaved like [they were] at the greengrocer", he said, making sure that none of the data from the Iranian nuclear program had leaked to foreigners. But while some news agencies like ISNA and Mehr quoted the spokesman as having said eight Zionists had been detained, implying that the detainees are Israelis or possible Iranian Jews, others, like the official news agency IRNA used the word people.

Although the Minister did not reveal the identities of the arrested people or said when they have been detained, however, he suggested that the suspects were not professionals in espionage, as some of them turned to a number of different Iranian agencies asking to purchase enriched uranium and an atomic bomb".

"They behaved like [they were] at the greengrocer", he said, making sure that none of the data from the Iranian nuclear program had leaked to foreigners.

Earlier this month, the Intelligence Ministry said it had arrested a spy who had been pretending to work on nuclear centrifuges in order to cast doubt on Tehran's recent agreements with the European Union to suspend such work.

Insisting that Irans intelligence network was ranking among worlds best agencies, if not the best and in any way, superior to both the American CIA and Israels Mossad, Mr Younessi hen went on describing to bored reporters that how his agents could decipher all secret codes used by would be spies, reading their e-mails, listening to their cell phones or reproducing letters wrote with invisible ink.

But Mr. Younessi failed to explain that if his ministry and his agents are so competent, how come then that they were not able to detect a journalist passing classified information to an un-named military attaché from an unidentified foreign embassy? one Iranian journalist who was present at the press conference told Iran Press Service.

He was referring to the case of Mr. Javad Qolam Tamimi, a journalist and author of a weblog who, after being released from prison two weeks ago, confessed that he had been brainwashed by counter-revolutionaries and has passed information to a military attaché.

Ever since the Information Ministry lost the confidence and trust the ruling conservatives in November 1998 and the creation of a parallel intelligence network under the direct control of Ayatollah Ali Khamenehi, Mr. Younessi drops such bombshells time to time in order to justify the existence of his ministry, a former intelligence officer explained, regretting that the Iranian security and intelligence services are probably the most inoperative.

The arrest of the so-called spies surfaced four days ago after the Foreign Affairs Ministrys spokesman confirmed that eight people had been detained on charges of espionage for the United States and Israel.

However, an Israeli online service dealing with intelligence and military affairs speculated that the vague and unverifiable charge -- a typical Iranian exercise to cover up a fiasco  could be a response to the arrest, a month ago, of Iranian and Iran-sponsored surveillance teams.

According to DebkaFile, Iranian agents and proxies have been discovered hanging about outside Israels diplomatic missions in the United States, South America, West Europe and the Middle East.

Team members rounded up by the FBI and Egyptian intelligence admitted that they were collecting information for Iranian intelligence. Team members rounded up by the American FBI and Egyptian intelligence in the last ten days admitted under interrogation that they were collecting information for Iranian intelligence, the DEBKA-Net-Weekly said in an exclusive story.

Egyptian President Hosni Mobarak had informed Israels Trade and Industry minister Ehud Olmert on 14 December about Egyptian security services arrest of a group of Egyptian Islamic fundamentalists carrying out surveillance of the Israeli embassy in Cairo and monitoring the movements of Israeli diplomats and their families in the city on behalf of the Islamic Republic.

DEBKA-Net-Weeklys counter-terrorism sources report that foreign intelligence services have been telling Israel since late November that Iranian spy teams have been spotted outside Israeli missions in various parts of the world, including one nabbed by the FBI watching Israeli consulates in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Houston.

It was made up of Iranian Americans, Arab and Pakistani students - some of them US citizens, and all activists belonging to Muslim fundamentalist groups, the service said, adding they were perfectly aware that the data sent to Iranian intelligence was intended for use in hostage taking and bombing attacks against Israeli missions.

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